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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144718">The Century Game</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdramawriter/pseuds/kdramawriter'>kdramawriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anal Sex, Arena, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fix-It, Martial Arts, Oral Sex, Physical Therapy, Post-Rogue One, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Relationship, Prison, Prisoner of War, Rough Sex, Smut, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Star Wars References, Training, Trust Issues, Vaginal Sex, gladiator, hunger game style fighting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:40:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,520</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144718</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdramawriter/pseuds/kdramawriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After entangling herself in a weapons deal gone left, Jyn is thrown into prison with one opportunity to spring herself free. Train a POW who can win the inter-planetary tournament Galaxy Warrior to earn freedom for them both. But when Jyn meets her charge, she realizes too late that it’s the last person she wants to see, Cassian Andor.</p><p>or</p><p>A quiet man on a Mytus VII, the prison planet, meets a woman who will either send him to his death or be the key to his freedom.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>CHAPTER 1</p><p>The cool air of the ventilation system snaked down Jyn’s back. <i>Good on you, Jyn. Letting the air-con be the reason you die in this karking prison. Bloody focus.  </i> The hammerhead of stress swimming between her ears finally stop as she sets her jaw, raising her arm, taking her final shot at the moving drone target, a shiny slip of a thing that looks like the arctic gulls on La’Mu, a sight too far for her to hit. </p><p>Jyn exhaled, letting the breath out of her body until she swayed like a leaf. Saw would say, “be the environment, don’t be the subject of one.” Her fingers tighten on the trigger, a feather light touch, and then a hollow ricochet ringed out, like faint bells. </p><p>The drone split apart in five clean pieces and landed around her, a smoking mess. </p><p>She’d done it. The trials were over. Sweat dried in patches across her shoulders, the salt from her body appearing in scribbles over the fabric. Jyn takes a ceremonial bow towards the panel of three Mytusians. </p><p>“Acceptable, Tanith.” </p><p>Jyn schooled her face into nonchalance, her shoulders balanced and ready.</p><p>“And, it appears that you’ve scored the highest of all the trainer combatants.” The light-colored Mytusian flicked a holo-display of all of Jyn’s trials, a green filled-in circle indicating the maximum score. Jyn’s score holo-card looked like a green lawn of filled circles. </p><p>“Tanith Ponta, you know that this means you will have the first choice of combatants.” Jyn nods, her eyes grazing at the door just beyond, where she was supposed to meet the chump who would be the key to both of their freedom from this hellscape. </p><p>“I accept.” Jyn flexes her fingers. “And can I ask when the first meal will be?”</p><p>The light one grins. “Hungry are we?”</p><p>“Famished.” Jyn said, her tone indicated she was bored but her voice was steel. Mytus VII was bad juju from the moment she landed. One of Saw’s old contacts for a shipment of iridium missiles turned out to be bunk, and she was caught in a sting operation by the Empire’s best investigators. Jyn chewed the inside of her mouth. For her to be caught by the Empire’s police was especially galling. In her younger days, she’d be off planet and out of this system as soon as she saw her reflection in a buckethead’s visor. To put it bald, Jyn had simply run out of time. </p><p>After the second month of imprisonment in M7’s finest accommodations, toilet not included, Jyn caught on to a whisper network that sponsored a tournament called Galaxy Warrior. Galaxy Warrior was this quadrant’s most popular pastime. With past combatants even attaining celebrity status. </p><p>Jyn wasn’t planning to win this stupid fake-martial arts competition so she could be in some B-list holofilms, shilling moon juice or payment plans on speeders. Her plan was to stay in the competition for as long as she needed to find an escape route, because there sure as hell wasn’t an escape in the centuries old prisons of M7. Needless to say, Jyn’s diet suffered during the months of imprisonment with no way for her to barter other than the clothes on her back. Jyn straightened her back and she could feel the bones in her spine groan with the lack of calcium. Jyn had never been in a situation this bad before. </p><p>Well, that wasn’t true. There was the wall of blinding white light, the body of a man who felt like a storm of feelings she never thought could be real, holding her--Jyn shook her head. That was three years ago and she barely escaped alive then. This was worse. This was a slow drain of life-force. If there was anything a wild animal like her hated, it was a cage. </p><p>“Your first celebratory dinner will be with your combatant. Held at our finest dietary halls.” Jyn thought the Mytusian’s name was something like “blah” or “hlah” but she shook her head slightly, trying to focus. The vast exertion of energy needed for her trial burned through her meager protein ration like it was nothing. </p><p>“I suppose you’ll be wanting to meet your candidates.” </p><p>Jyn nodded, her mouth dry. She could feel her abdomen spasm, muscles clenching and releasing, deprived of electrolytes. The body was as much of a prison as this place. </p><p>Six candidates, six different species, from about one imperial meter to six imperial meters tall shuffled into the room. Shackled and wearing the grey uniform of M7’s highest security prison. Each prisoner’s uniform had bars on the front, indicating kills, their hoods obscuring their faces.  </p><p>So these were the most dangerous prisoners of the highest security prison in M7. Jyn grimaced. Whoever she chose, she would have to trust. If she went for the combatant with the highest kills, who’s to say that they wouldn’t turn back on her in some sort of uncontrolled blood thirst? What if the number of kills just indicated the level of psychosis? Jyn walked from one end of the room to the other. Each candidate had their advantages. Even a human among them. She stopped in front of the human, and noted the number of bars on the uniform. Five. They had killed five times since their imprisonment. It wasn’t the highest number of kills. The giant Utapaun at the end had that distinction. </p><p>Of course they were going to make her choose a combatant sight unseen. Of course this would be another hurdle to overcome. Jyn felt herself growing calm. She had to choose what was the most sensible. While she could train anyone to fight, she did have a unique understanding of the human body, as it was hers as well. Trust, Jyn mused, was a thing that could be forced because she was sure hell trying to force herself to trust this faceless person.  </p><p>“That one.” </p><p>“Very well. Take off his hood.” </p><p>Jyn’s eyebrows furrowed, something felt off. As the hood revealed more of his shoulders, she saw his Adam's apple move. Jyn flinched. A damp feeling of dread took over. No. She shook it off. Before the sticky dread could take over, Jyn reached for the weapon at her side. The bottom of Jyn’s stomach fell when her brain finally made a final dash across the synaptic bridge. She knew that scar. The one nicking the corner of his collar bone. </p><p>In front of her, was Captain Cassian Andor, a man she left for dead in a field hospital in wild space. Her breathing slowed, her blood quickened, and Jyn sucked her teeth in an imitation of a soldier, dismissive of the challenge before her. Cassian eyes betrayed no signs of recognition. His gaze was steady. But Jyn saw the vein near his temple jump. He was alive. He was in front of her and Jyn crossed her arms in front of her chest, in defiance or because she was afraid she was going to crumble. Jyn had run to the furthest corner of the universe only to find Cassian Andor, breathing, gazing at her from a position that felt like a nightmare invention. </p><p>“Aach.” The Mytusian reviewed his holofile. “Looks like there was no last name.”  </p><p>“Good. Less for me to learn.” Jyn’s voice was clipped. “How does this work?” </p><p>“I still can’t believe we found someone who hasn’t seen a single season of Galaxy Warrior. We’ve been continually broadcasting for almost a century.” </p><p>“I’m not really into pop-culture.” Jyn’s eyes narrowed. Cassian had a thousand mile stare. Jyn felt cold fear creep into her rib cage. What if he wasn’t the same Cassian she had known? Who knows what had happened to him in the three intervening years. Was he still in the Rebellion? Of course, he had to be. He was probably undercover on a Rebellion mission and caught in this godforsaken trap of a planet. He refused to make eye contact, his gaze trained somewhere out of this room. </p><p>“Well, the trainer and combatant are housed separately at our gymnasium on the moon of Mytus VI. When tournaments are set, we will transport teams to the arena.” The lithe Mytusian whose name rhymes with “lah” was energetically presenting. </p><p>“You’ll get one lunar rotation to prepare your charge before the elimination round.” He spun around, cape flaring with a bit of holo dazzle, “And of course, during that time, if some kind of bond forms where the trainer and combatant is unassailable, so much the better for the audience. The audience enjoys the athletic display, but they’re always thirsty for a love story. And well, you two. I couldn’t have chosen better myself.”</p><p>“And what if I refuse to participate.”<br/>
</p><p>
Cassian’s voice was raspy, but the accent as always, made Jyn long for a different time, a different set of circumstances, a different life. It’d been three years since his mouth was next to her ear, his hand clutching the nape of her neck, her chin firmly hooked on his shoulders, immovable. The two of them curved into each other, like force trees she had read about, grown into familiar roots. They were the center of a maelstrom; the ground around them flying upwards, then they were... The last thing she remembered him murmuring into her was, “I’m with you, Jyn.” Jyn’s mouth tightened. Was she that aborhorrant, that he couldn’t even go through the paces of trying to survive? </p><p>“Well instant execution, of course.” Rhymes-with-Lah waved it off like it was a passing fancy for custard.</p><p>“Then, I accept.” Cassian got off his knees and stood in front of the man, his eyes as steady as steel. “I’d prefer a blaster shot.”</p><p>The Mytusian hissed at Cassian. “I’m afraid that I was not joking Aach. There are executioners waiting.” </p><p>“No!” Jyn stepped in front of Cassian. When no other words followed, Jyn cleared her throat again, and again. Feeling like she was trapped at the bottom of a very deep hole. Her voice didn’t work. Somehow, today was not the day she wanted to see Cassian die. <i>But then again fool, you didn’t stick around at the hospital when you thought he was dying did you? So what’s the difference now, coward? Too squeamish?</i> Her thoughts whipped around and around until she was dizzy. Maybe her malnourished state was finally getting to her. Her mouth opened and closed again. She had to say something. Everyone was staring. Jyn sucked at her teeth again, placing on the same bravado that Saw would use in an impossible situation which he would make “unimpossible” through sheer will. </p><p>“I’d like to confer with Mr. Aach.” Jyn squared her chin but kept her body loosely confident. “I can kick some sense into him.” </p><p>“It’s just Aach. Prisoners don’t get honorifics.” Rhymes-with-Lah could go screw himself but Jyn held her face close. “By all means, I dislike surprises.” </p><p>One of the prison guards, unshackled Cassian and shackled the other end of the cuffs onto Jyn’s right arm. </p><p>“This way.” </p><p>Jyn kept her eyes straight ahead towards the destination. She was so tired. She wanted more than anything to get the victor’s meal that was promised, sleep for twenty hours, and maybe, then maybe she would be ready to deal with...the man who saved her? The man who swore he’d always be with her? The man she left because the idea of him dead was worse than almost any horror she’d known in her short life. Her eyes dropped down to scan his legs. He still had a slight hitch in his step, from the fall off the towers in Scarif. </p><p>The prison guard led them to an open square with high walls. A grey box open to the sky. She gestured to the center of the square. </p><p>“You can talk there. We’ll be watching.” </p><p>After nearly 200 paces, far enough away from any guard to hear their lowered voice, Jyn also couldn’t spot any listening devices or voice tracers. Her right hand, tingled with the brush against Cassian’s skin. She sighed and then cupped her hand against mouth, bringing herself closer to his face. His eyes widened and she could see him steeling himself for impact. </p><p>“I’m not going to head butt you.” She spoke softly, trying to make her voice sound as trust-worthy as possible. “I’m doing this to cover for lipreading. If my only plan was to knock you out so that they can take you, then I wouldn’t be a very worthy trainer would I?”</p><p>“Tanith.”</p><p>“Aach.” </p><p>“Why are you choosing execution? You’re my way out too.” </p><p>“I thought the reason would be obvious.”</p><p>“Me?”</p><p>“Tanith.” Cassian finally lifted his eyes to look at Jyn. Jyn met his eyes and suddenly, she felt like time had washed away. She was on the beach of Scarif again, his eyes full of hope and love, maybe not for her, but for what she had done. She had earned a small piece of Cassian’s love and maybe she could get it back. Oh, how she wanted it back. Her eyes scanned him, hungrily taking him in. <i>idiot, he doesn’t belong to you. He belongs to the rebellion. </i> His hair was probably shorn the first day he arrived in prison, but it was growing out now. His jaw was as sharp as ever, the muscle there, jumping ever so often with tension. But it was his eyes that worried Jyn. The light in his eyes, the intensity that she saw every time they went toe-to-toe at Yavin IV, at Eadu, at Jeda, it was gone. </p><p>“I can’t be on a broadcast, holo net or not. Any scanner worth their salt would cog me in a parsec. I have hundreds of contacts who will be burned as soon as an episode of this is transmitted. I know you might not understand this. Years of work goes down the drain. Not when we’re about to win. Not when the Empire is at its weakest. I won’t have their blood on my hands because I wasn’t willing to accept my end.”</p><p>Jyn froze. The clammy feeling of dread burrowed straight down to her belly. She felt like she could throw up, if there was anything in her stomach. Cassian was one hundred percent dead to rights, a dead man walking if his face ever got broadcast on any cross-galaxy spectrum. </p><p>“No.”</p><p>Cassian’s eyes scanned her up and down, cold and impersonal. His tongue swept just under his mouth and Jyn knew that it meant he was making a decision. </p><p>Jyn tasted metal in her mouth. She couldn’t let him do this. Her chin lifted up. “No, that’s not what’s going to happen.” </p><p>“I don’t think you can make that call, Tanith.”</p><p>“We have one lunar rotation to figure out an escape plan.” Jyn shifted her weight back and forth, unable to look at Cassian, even though all she wanted to do was rest her palm on his shoulder, make sure that the flesh underneath wasn’t phantom and that this wasn’t some simulation. Jyn squeezed her eyes shut. </p><p>Jyn stared at him, granting no compassion, no quarter. If he wanted to die, then he would be her enemy. And for a woman who left a man that meant more to her than anyone in her life, this was the sorry excuse she had for him.</p><p>“We will train together for one lunar cycle, Aach, and if we don’t find a way out, I will kill you myself.” </p><p> TBC --</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. she was there then she wasn't</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cassian and Jyn get to know each other again on the moon of Mytus VII</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>CHAPTER TWO</p><p>“...If we don’t find a way out, I will kill you myself.” </p><p>The slight back of the woman who promised him death was only a few paces ahead. Jyn’s hair was longer, braided thick and hanging down her back, he noticed that it still curled at the nape of her neck, a whispery strand that caressed against the flushed pink lobes of her ears. </p><p>Cassian chewed the inside of his mouth; despite the ash that had been on his lips when the hood covered his head, despite the myriad scenarios he thought of to break out the prison, none was as apparent as what was happening now. </p><p>Cassian tapped his breast bone at the tugging tightness in his chest. Jyn had shone as bright as a new star when she burst forth from the prison transport at Wobani 3 years ago, and knocked Melshi flat on his ass with a shovel twice her height. He’d been watching from the U-Wing cameras. </p><p>“Asset not cooperating!” He had chuckled to himself when Kay-tu grabbed her. </p><p>From the darkened corner of the command room at Yavin IV, Cassian thought about how Jyn sat, back ramrod straight betraying her time with the Partisans, how her lips were tight, and her green eyes scanning the entire room, but somehow not seeing him in the wedge of shadows. It was curious to Cassian, that at that moment, he fiercely wished that she did see him and that he was oddly relieved that she hadn’t. </p><p>Three years ago, the rebellion was in a different place then, nothing but a few slip-shod holds on outer rim planets that barely looked like they were capable of taking over a colony, let alone entire quadrants. But now, the tide of war was slowly turning in their favor. Cassian never expected to see the end of this war; he counted himself as a casualty before the war could. It was only when Jyn gripped his hand on the beaches of Scarif, her eyes full of tenderness and relief, that he felt a fissure slowly begin to take hold of his sacred beliefs. Maybe there was a life...maybe she could understand. Maybe. But of course, it was too late. He had been ready for the wall of light and its answer, absolution for everything that he had done, had not atoned for, and would not have to do again. </p><p>All the field attendants at that hospital would say was that she was there and then she wasn’t.</p><p>Cassian swam in a dark warm bath for a long time after Scarif. His life came back in bits and pieces, like a trail a junkman would leave behind. The refugee camps on Fest, where he saw his family for the last time. A grenade exploding in the face of a stormtrooper, his first. Small lips pressed against his, they were fourteen, and evacuating Coruscant. The death masks of his many successes. His life returned to him, bird by bird, the way Festian swallows migrated home after spring. </p><p>When he was awake, finally, the medical droid released him without much fanfare. The field hospital that he was in, the one Jyn must have found after the grinding horrors that followed Scarif, was one of the few institutions that was resolutely apolitical. It was shielded by an asteroid belt and put out no visible signatures. It was a miracle that Jyn had found it at all. Sometimes, Cassian thought back to that hospital, its weird mysticism and strange caretakers and wondered if it was all a dream. But most of all he wondered why Jyn left. In a few weeks, he would be on a transport back to the new rebel base on Hoth, throwing himself back absolutely in the machinery of the rebellion.  </p><p>Cassian bid himself to wish her well. She deserved that much. </p><p>Cassian never thought he would see the end of the war and yet this unlikely possibility was looking more and more likely with each winning skirmish against the empire. In parts of wild space, like the current backwaters he and Jyn were currently imprisoned in, the strangle-hold of the empire felt fainter, less choked. People went about their lives, without having their families torn apart, without having to sacrifice their children, without having to choose between a meal and fuel. But even with this relative luxury of free living, Mytusians’ holo-net tournament was a planetary pastime, as good of a way as any to distract its citizens from the war. </p><p>Cassian glanced up at the long hallway towards the dietary hall, lined with portraits of past winners. So far, no humans. Humans were ill suited to arena-fighting, he mused. </p><p>They had been had generously been given a hot steam shower, clean uniforms from the competition, basic grey jumpsuits with a hologram of the show’s title on the back, and now they were being escorted to the dietary hall, where all sorts of promises were being made by the female Mytusian, whose neat manners and warm tone was suppose to loosen up both he and Jyn. </p><p>Cassian noticed that she was thin. Thinner than she had been at Scarif, where she had possessed a kind of wiry strength that expressed itself in her truncheons. Simple metal bars in anyone’s hands but hers. In hers, they were like an extension of her arms, vicious and accurate. Her uniform sagged around her waist, but still hugged her hips. But it was still Jyn Erso, a woman who carved a six-inch valley through his head, filled with nothing but regret and time. Cassian caught her glance sideways, the curve of her cheek cutting into his memories. He remembered her face so well. Her right eye met his and she snapped back, like she’d been stung. He saw the slow incarnadine creep along her neck. </p><p>“Now, we have basically the best chefs in the galaxy. You can almost request anything. Within reason of course. We’re not gonna have anything from Core planets, damn transport charges being what they are and rebels running blockades all over the place. Pesky sons-of-banthas.”</p><p>Their host guided him and Jyn to a long table laden with dinner. Cassian felt his stomach lurch, the clawing emptiness in his stomach overcame his sense. He numbly sat down in front of a plate of Coco Claw fish and roasted Porg, as the rich scent of meat filled the air around them. He noticed that Jyn gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles white. </p><p>“Can we begin?” Her voice was calm. </p><p>“Of course, as the winners, you eat first.” </p><p>Cassian felt his fingers uncurl towards the utensils and Jyn shot him a look. He knew she was thinking about the possibilities that the food could be poisoned, but they were far too valuable to the Mytusians to be somehow killed at the first opportunity. No one knew them here. He was the faceless Aach, and she was the arms-dealer Tanith. He tried to convey all of that through a look, and somehow Jyn understood. </p><p>With her right hand, she grabbed a fistful of deep fried Nuna legs and tucked in, ravenous. Cassian did the same. Except he tried to pace himself. In their malnourished condition, eating too quickly had a toxic effect on the human body. </p><p>“Slow down,” he murmured under his breath. And Jyn took a single long breath and stopped slamming food into her mouth. After taking a long draught of Siren’s milk, the color finally returned to her cheeks. She sighed in satisfaction and turned to Cassian. </p><p>“I’m sorry to be rude.” She was quiet and picking about the leafy greens now. “But, I couldn’t think clearly at all. Starvation plays tricks on your mind.” </p><p>“I know.” Cassin took a piece of the veg-meat, as bland as it could be but packed dense with nutrients. “How long?”</p><p>“About two months.” She shrugged, snapping into a pink Naboo crayfish. </p><p>“Careful.” He gestures to the carapace, which was always tricky and squirted the eater with its blue juice if not popped delicately. </p><p>“Quite the manners expert aren’t we?” She grinned wolfishly. Then carefully cracking the shell with her finger nails, she extracted the flesh whole and offered it to Cassian. “How long for you?”</p><p>“About a month.” </p><p>“So, we were trapped in the same prison for a month, and didn’t even know it.” Jyn said. “What luck.” </p><p>Cassian searched her face. Did she actually mean it? Jyn betrayed none of her emotions. </p><p>“I meant what I said Aach.” Jyn covered her mouth with a napkin as if she were just wiping away crumbs. “There’s weakness here. I’ve been researching this competition for weeks. First they take us to one of the moons on Mytus VI, which is of course, is an out. We’re housed on the small moon for a month. That’s 30 days of opportunity. And then the competition itself, which is also on an off-planet arena. The whole thing is designed like a net with very wide holes.”</p><p>Cassian looked down in his lap, like he was fishing around for a utensil, but also to quietly communicate with Jyn without signaling to the rest of the room. </p><p>“I’ve done my research too, Jyn.” He said. “And there’s many things you don’t know.”</p><p>“Fine.” She cut her eyes at him. “Give me one good reason why you thought jumping in front of a firing squad would be a better idea.” </p><p>Cassian returned her look, bland and tired. “It wasn’t the better idea. Our relationship puts us at risk of discovery.” </p><p>“What relationship?” Jyn wiped her mouth, but her voice was gruff. </p><p>Cassian clenched his jaw, and then released the tension like water through a sieve. </p><p>“There’s an old saying in intelligence, too many pieces of the puzzle with matching sides means that the enemy can see.” </p><p>“Count your lucky stars then.” Jyn bite into a rock-apple, the ripe juice coloring her lips an even deeper shade of red. “I’m going to get the both of us out of here, in two whole pieces. Over there? Those are our opponents.”</p><p>Five trainers, five combatants. There wasn’t another human pair among them. </p><p>“What was all of that bull about unassailable bonding?” She sniffed her wine glass, apprehensive, but then sipped the green wine, demure but also hiding her mouth. </p><p>Cassian crooked a half-grin.  </p><p>“You really don’t watch holo-net do you?” </p><p>Jyn shrugged. “Never had time for it. I’d catch something in a cantina if other people were watching, but...” she flexed her finger tips, “if I was in a cantina, it usually wasn’t for fun. Why do you watch it?”</p><p>“Usually strategy.” Cassian found a particular kind of Fambaa soup to be pleasing. It had a delicate broth and tasted like a profound mixture of freshness and savory. “To blend in. Mentioned a popular storyline and character proved to be useful from time to time.” </p><p>“Okay, granted.” She drained the wine glass and a drop of wine hung off the edge of her lip. Cassian almost bit down on his soup spoon. </p><p>“And people tend to root for some sort of romance.” Cassian looked away. </p><p>“That’s something everyone is interested in?” Jyn frowned, retucking her hair behind her ears. “Everyone? Even the Sith?” </p><p>“Even the Hutt.” </p><p>“Oh I believe it.” Jyn suddenly chortled. “Sure he had legions of slaves, but Jabba looked pretty lonely.” Her mouth curled back as she spat out Huttese. “May all your whores be melancholy.” </p><p>Before Cassian could respond “Money spent well is happiness”, the meal ended as abruptly as it began. Suddenly, the server droids swept up the food quickly. </p><p>“Contestants of Season 99 of Galaxy Warrior!”  A woman, with shiny teeth and a closely shaven head, a hologram hovering the tables. “You will now be transported to the moon of Mytus VI, to our training facilities. Instead of housing the trainers and combatants separately, we’ve mixed things up. Each team will have its own training bungalow and you will confer weekly to determine ranking before our broadcast season begins. Please exit to the back of the hall where your shuttles are waiting.” </p><p> </p><p> *<br/>
**</p><p>As the transporter skimmed into atmo, Cassian noted the number of guards, the exact model of the transporter, the special mods that had been created for this purpose, even the route that the inexperienced pilot decided to take. The transporter was an old imperial runner, the kind had been decommissioned a few decades ago. Luckily, the exact kind he had been trained on as a young rebel specializing in liberating the Imperial fleet into Rebellion commissions. The ride was a rough one, the violent jostling tossed him and Jyn together like marbles in a bag.</p><p>“Now, you’ll notice from your windows that the moon of Mytus VI is very unusual. Most satellite bodies do not hold atmosphere, but our Moon absolutely does! The plant life on the surface releases carbon dioxide only at night, so all of our carbon based contestants must return to the compound before sundown. If not, then I hope you remember to carry oxygen.” </p><p>“Must be why it’s so green.” Cassian said. </p><p>Jyn nodded back at him, but she looked to be consumed in her own thoughts. Cassian leaned against the shuttle and let his lids drift lower, so it looked like he was napping, but his gaze drifted from one end of the shuttle to the other. While he was sure that Jyn and he could take down the competition guards without a second thought, it was inadvisable to do so in the presence of 10 other life-forms without knowing any of their histories or motivations. </p><p>After disembarking the shuttle, Cassian stuck to Jyn’s side as they were led to their training bungalow. The low building was soil-formed, neatly stacked into thick bricks, then thatched with a high conical reed roof. They passed three other dwellings before arriving at theirs, Cassian noted. Each bungalow perimeter was enclosed with a circular fence that had the tracks for a bubble roof, presumably for the anoxic nights. </p><p>When they arrived at the front door of their lodging, Cassian nodded to Jyn and they both split up at the circular structure, making the full perimeter scan before meeting back. </p><p>“Looks clear.” Jyn’s tone was mystified. “I would have thought, at least some shenanigans nonsense, considering this contest.”</p><p>“I agree.” Cassian said, “I don’t think we should let our guard down.” </p><p>“Just paranoid peaches, aren’t we?” Jyn ducked her head and pushed open the door before he could respond. </p><p>Inside, the bungalow was clean, white-washed with some kind of planet mineral, simple furniture hewed from the native reeds. A sitting area. A comfortable looking chair next to a lamp. Cassian almost recoiled at the comfort in this room. This felt wrong. He scanned the dimly-lit interior, a kind of kitchen off to the side, and it looked like sleeping chambers in the back. All in all, compared to prison, this might as well be a high-end resort on Naboo. </p><p>Jyn called from a room farther in, “Refresher, with hot water.” </p><p>She walked out, the entire front of her jumpsuit was drenched, while the grin split her face into childlike mirth. She shook herself off, “Stars, really hot water. And a soaking tub.” </p><p>“You should go first, I’ll take first watch.” </p><p>Jyn stared at him, long and hard. </p><p>“How much do you sleep, Cassian?”</p><p>Cassian exhaled slowly. It'd been three years since he heard the Corusant clip of her voice against his name, as lush and verdant as ever. Cassian startled himself. He wanted her to say it again. And again. And again. </p><p>“Two to four, every solar cycle.” He said evenly. “Been about the same since I was 6.”</p><p>“All that cortisol,” Jyn waved her hands up and down, indicating the top of Cassian’s head to his feet. “Can’t be good for you. Would you be interested in a few more hours?”</p><p>“I don’t think I’m physically capable.” </p><p>Her lips pressed into a thin line and Cassian knew that he just backed himself into a corner. She squared her shoulders like she was about to enter into a ring herself and took several measured and careful steps to him. Her hands were extended, palms out, no weapons, and she held his gaze through the short distance. </p><p>“I’m not saying that you have to, Cassian, but if you would let me, I am fully capable of keeping the watch for six hours. If you could try to sleep more than four hours, I would feel enormously better about our prospects.” </p><p>“Okay. I’ll try, Jyn.” </p><p>Her face flushed. Cassian realized it was the first time he had said her name out loud to her, since...the hospital. She twists the cuff of her jumpsuit and sat down on the small settee next to the lamp. Her face lit by the warmth of the reading light, lambent, the smallest curve of her lip danced around the corner of her mouth. </p><p>“I’ll be here.” Her hands were in her lap, prim and neat, almost like she was trying to convince him of something. “I’m not going anywhere.” </p><p>“I’d like to believe that,” Cassian’s voice was stiff and measured. Just like that, the warmth in the room extinguished. Cassian felt himself swung back to through the shadow of three years since her departure. Jyn’s face fell and Cassian could see her jaw tighten. </p><p>“You have to let me explain.” She made a move to stand up. </p><p>“No.” Cassian turned away. “You never have to explain to me how you survived. You survived and that’s what matters to me. I’m going to try to sleep. Good night.” </p><p>TBC--</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I live for comments! Disagreements are healthy! Kudos are beloved. And all forms of flattery welcomed!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My first foray into a huge fandom! I love these characters to death and I hope you enjoy the time in my sandbox. Comments are always always dear.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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